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NEW DELHI, June 6 (Reuters) - India's top copper smelter
faces another hurdle in reopening from a two-month shutdown
after a local authority lodged an appeal with the Supreme Court
seeking to keep it closed, a lawyer told Reuters on Thursday.

The smelter, run by Sterlite Industries, a unit of
London-listed Vedanta, uses imported concentrates and
produces 30,000 tonnes of refined copper a month, more than half
of India's total production. Its closure has squeezed domestic
copper supplies and boosted imports.

The local pollution board in southern Tamil Nadu state,
which had originally ordered the smelter to shut at the end of
March after complaints of emissions, has now taken its case to
the Supreme Court.

"The top court's vacation bench is likely to hear our case
on Friday," said Abdul Saleem, a lawyer for the Pollution
Control Board. The court's regular justices are now on holiday.

On May 31, a fast-track environmental court said the smelter
could resume operations overseen by a court-appointed panel.

"We will continue with our process to reopen the smelter
until and unless the Supreme Court stays the order of the
National Green Tribunal," a Sterlite source told Reuters, adding
the plant is expected to reopen "any time now".

A Singapore-based physical trader said any delay to a
restart would be "more misery for Indian copper consumers".

"We can sell copper rod for premiums of $220 pretty easily
now, but we can also sell $250 for smaller volumes," he said.

A routine shutdown of Hindalco Industries Ltd's
Birla smelter, India's second largest, has exacerbated the
shortage of copper mainly for India's cable industry.

The smelter, shut for maintenance on May 7, was expected to
reopen in early June, Hindalco Managing Director D. Bhattacharya
said late last month. He declined to give a date and a
spokeswoman on Thursday could not immediately say if the smelter
has restarted.